Congratulations to David Stern for ‘pushing back’ at talk show host Jim Rome in an interview today on his radio show. Rome asked Stern in an interview if the NBA lottery was fixed and Stern tersely threw a similar incriminating question back at Rome which was “Did you beat your wife today?”. Rome immediately justified his ability to ask the question by claiming simply through monitoring viral activity on the Internet and through fan comments that it was a fair question to ask. Stern thoroughly explained his dislike of Rome’s question because a question based on speculation from anyone doesn’t constitute justification of a question. Stern reasoned that speculation was expected because the New Orleans franchise was owned by the NBA but would’ve been warranted if the Bobcats or Nets would’ve won the lottery as well.

Stern then told Rome that his justification wasn’t valid and it was simply a ‘cheap thrill’ to generate phone calls from fans. Rome then, took exception to Stern’s remark and using the most vanilla and carefully worded language possible tried to reason why Stern’s remark wasn’t very nice. Jim Rome has made a living off of claiming to be ‘a voice of the people’ and someone who ‘tells it like it is’ and doesn’t shy away from asking direct questions. It is simply, a guise he weaves to convince viewers and listeners that he is a journalist when he is not. The question is absolutely fair to ask but not without expecting the interviewee to get very angry as did Stern. Any ‘waffling’ or justification as to the ability to ask following any journalistic duty to viewers and listeners is a joke.